Microsoft Windows Phone 8.1 Rollout Begins

Microsoft has now started seeding Windows Phone 8.1 update for all the supported devices. Microsoft’s Conversations blog has confirmed the news through official post. Lumia handsets are apparently first of the lot to receive the update along with custom Cyan update.

For those of you who haven’t heard about Windows Phone 8.1, this update will improve the usability and experience significantly. The new start screen will enable the third column for live tiles and you can now also set background image for your start screen. Windows Phone 8.1 will bring Action Center (similar to notifications on Android), a whole new keyboard dubbed Word Flow, which supports swipe typing. US users will also get to use Cortana, Microsoft’s voice assistant. Windows Phone 8.1 also brings new feature, Device Search which enables you to search for just any content on your devices. Then there will also be new Calendar app which now shows weather info along with Internet Explorer 11. On the enterprise front, Windows Phone 8.1 will enable handsets to send digitally signed and encrypted emails to outside world. It’ll also enable users to set their handsets to access company’s VPN automatically.

For Lumia users, Cyan is bringing lot of goodies. It’ll improve camera performance across the range but it’ll changes will be strong on PureView devices. Cyan update will also include Nokia Device Hub which maintains the location based track of your accessories. Lumia 520/525/620/720 will be upgraded from HERE Drive to HERE Drive+. On Lumia 1520 and Icon, Cyan update will enable Nokia Rich Recording and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1. It’ll also improve camera specific performance such as improved colors,continuous autofocus and enhancements to RAW DNG images. Microsoft’s screen share technology, which lets users project screen content to smart TVs or projectors will comes exclusively to Lumia 1520 and Icon.

Although the update has already started,it’ll take some time before it’s available in your region or on your carrier. You can check the update status here.